Electricity hike proposed; public consultation sought

Proposed hikes in electricity have been announced and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has called for views.

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka recently  reviewed the estimated expenditure submitted by the Ceylon Electricity Board for 2013, in line with the provisions in the tariff methodology and has decided to reduce these costs by Rs. 40 billion.  The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had filed Rs. 268 billion as its estimated costs for electricity supply in 2013. The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka after an assessment of these estimates initially recommended a Rs. 33 billion reduction.

Subsequently, a further Rs. 7 billion was reduced from the initial revised cost estimates, to waive off the estimated impact of the fuel (furnace oil) price hike due to suspension of the implementation of the fuel price hike by three months (the fuel price hike announced in January 2013 was scheduled to be implemented in April 2013). Accordingly, the Commission determined that only Rs. 228 billion should be charged as the total cost of electricity supply for 2013.

Since the revenue generated through existing electricity tariff is not sufficient to meet the approved cost of the supply of electricity, the Ceylon Electricity Board has submitted a proposal to increase electricity tariff. The salient features of the tariff proposal are as follows:

The existing incremental tariffs block system used in domestic and religious customer categories will convert to a ‘progressive blocks’ system, where a monthly (30 day ) consumption falls within a certain range (block), the relevant tariffs (unit rate) for that range will be applicable for the entire monthly consumption.

The Commission’s stakeholder consultation is as per Section 17 of the PUCSL Act No. 35 of 2002, on proposed electricity tariff.

The consultation document can be accessed and downloaded from the Commission’s website www.pucsl.gov.lk. Printed copies could be obtained by visiting the office of the Commission.

Representations, on the areas specified in the consultation document, may be made in writing (by registered post or by e-mail) to the Commission on or before 28 March 2013. All representations should carry the name and contact details (postal address and contact number) of the person sending the representation and should clearly indicate whether he/she is desirous to be heard by the Commission at the Public Consultation scheduled to be held in Colombo on 4 April 2013.

See Page 2 for example illustrating the calculation and the proposed tariff rates.